Washin Kai’s Upcoming Event featuring Joshua Mostow, Ph.D.
By Barbara Mizoguchi
NAP Editor
Hyakunin isshu eshō: Jitō Tennō by Utagawa Kunisada. Edo: Sanoya Kihei, 1843-45. Colors on paper, ōban print. © The Trustees of the British Museum.
Washin Kai (Friends of Classical Japanese) and the University of Washington (UW) Japan Studies program will be featuring Professor Joshua Mostow, Ph.D. from the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Canada on October 23, 2024. He will be presenting The Popularization of the Hundred Poets in Edo-Period Japan at UW Kane Hall 210 from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. (Reception afterwards in Kane Hall 225.) It is free; however, please register at: https://bit.ly/wkfall24.
◀︎ Hyakunin’shu, Reading the Hundred Poets in Late Edo Japan by Joshua S. Mostow, University of Hawai’i Press, 2024.
The Edo period was in the years 1600 to 1868. Although it was the time of the Tokugawa shogunate rule covering the country’s 300 regional daimyo (feudal lords), there was also economic growth, a stable population, overall peace and popular enjoyment of the arts and culture. The National Learning (Kokugaku) movement analyzed poems which led to translations into contemporary, spoken Japanese. Now, the 100 poets’ work was no longer exclusive to the upper class. Commoners became literate and they, too, enjoyed the poems.
That is where Mostow traces its first published collections from the famous poet and scholar Fujiwara no Teika (1162-1241) who produced poems with the emperor. They slowly developed their works into a collection which is still considered one of the best today. Mostow takes these poems further and compares them with ukiyo-e (woodblock) prints which were also popular at the time. Each poem is in waka form (similar to haiku) where the syllables are 5-7-5-7-7. For example, the first line is five syllables, second line is seven, etc. Best-known today is the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu (Little Treasury of One Hundred Poets One Poem Each) which is a game that is still part of many Japanese families’ New Year celebrations.
When asked how Prof. Mostow got interested in Japanese history and culture, he mentioned his interest in Hinduism and Buddhism in junior high school. He also had classmates from Japan and trained in aikido by high school. He then studied languages such as Sanskrit, Chinese, Japanese and Tibetan all before entering college. In college, Prof. Mostow became interested in translating classical Japanese poetry, text-image relations and uta-e (poem-pictures). He then focused on the interpretation of Hyakunin Isshu.
Prof. Mostow has a doctorate in the Comparative Literature and Literary Theory Program from the University of Pennsylvania and studied in France and Japan. He has written numerous articles; participated in interviews, podcasts, panels, and lectures; received many grants and fellowships; and has been a visiting researcher at universities in Germany and the U.S. He is known for his work in pre-modern Japanese literature and its relation to visual arts.
In addition, Prof. Mostow was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon by the Japanese government for contributing to the development of Japanese studies. He also received Japan Foreign Minister’s Commendation for the promotion of Japan research in Canada, 2017 and was inducted into the Royal Society of Canada in 2015.
Recently, Prof. Mostow published Hyakunin ‘shu: Reading the Hundred Poets in Late Edo Japan from the University of Hawai’i Press, 2024.
Sponsorship for this event comes from the University of Washington Japan Studies Program and Washin Kai — Friends of Classical Japanese, with support by the Department of Asian Languages and Literature, the UW Language Learning Center, and the Consulate General of Japan in Seattle.
Washin Kai 和心会, also known as Friends of Classical Japanese at UW, is a group of volunteers from the Puget Sound area with strong ties to the university and to Japan. It was formed in spring 2018 in response to an appeal by the UW Department of Asian Languages and Literature to preserve and strengthen classical Japanese studies. The main mission is to create a permanent fund at UW dedicated to supporting the study of classical Japanese language, literature and culture.
